rom the same root, and reach the height of from twenty
to thirty feet. The leaves grow in pairs, lanceolate in shape, of a dull
green on the upper, and hoary on the under side. Hence, in countries
where the olive is extensively cultivated, the scenery is of a dull
character, from this colour of the foliage. The fruit is oval in shape,
with a hard strong kernel, and remarkable from the outer fleshy part
being that in which much oil is lodged, and not, as is usual, in the
seed. It ripens from August to September.

Of the olive-tree two varieties are particularly distinguished: the
long-leafed, which is cultivated in the south of France and in Italy;
and the broad-leafed in Spain, which has its fruit much longer than that
of the former kind.

[Illustration: OLIVE TREES, GETHSEMANE.]

That the olive grows to a great age, has long been known. Pliny mentions
one which the Athenians of his time considered to be coeval with their
city, and therefore 1600 years old; and near Terni, in the vale of the
cascade of Marmora, there is a plantation of very old trees, supposed to
consist of the same plants that were growing there in the time of Pliny.
Lady Calcott states that on the mountain road between Tivoli and
Palestrina, there is an ancient olive-tree of large dimensions, which,
unless the documents are purposely falsified, stood as a boundary
between two possessions even before the Christian era. Those in the
garden of Olivet or Gethsemane are at least of the time of the Eastern
Empire, as is proved by the following circumstance:--In Turkey every
olive-tree found standing by the Mussulmans, when they conquered Asia,
pays one medina to the treasury, while each of those planted since the
conquest is taxed half its produce. The eight olives of which we are
speaking are charged only eight medinas. By some it is supposed that
these olive-trees may have been in existence even in the time of our
Saviour; the largest is about thirty feet in girth above the roots, and
twenty-seven feet high.

* * * * *

ACCORDANCE BETWEEN THE SONGS OF BIRDS AND THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE
DAY.

[Illustration: Letter T.]

There is a beautiful propriety in the order in which Nature seems to
have directed the singing-birds to fill up the day with their pleasing
harmony. The accordance between their songs and the external aspect of
nature, at the successive periods of the day at which they sing, is
quite remark